I got Tilke to design my driveway for me. Unfortuantly, all he made was a long straight bit, followed by a tight hairpin and then a long sweeping corner. Now I get bored driving my car into my garage every night.

I think this race will be interesting. Suprisingly Red Bull seem to have a car which is decent in a straight line, but with less downforce than the Mclaren. I expect them both to scrap up the front, but Lotus and Sauber could suprise on this track. Mercedes might fall down during the race with tyre wear, this is heavy on the tyres this track, and this could play into Saubers hands for some more points. I wont be suprised too much if Lotus can repeat last year and get a car on the podium though

RBR-s average straight speed might have been ok at Melbourne, but it's still because they are fast around the corners. (so their corner exit speed is higher) Their top speed in average was ~10km/h slower than Sauber/Mercedes/McLaren's top speed in Australia qualifying. (they were 19.-20. in that matter btw so it's pretty low compared to the whole field) But of course it's also dependent on their setup.

In Melbourne mechanical grip was more important than aero grip because of the low speed corners, aero will be much more important in Sepang. I wonder how McLaren and Red Bull will compare in this matter. (and of course the others too)

Josh, do you mind designing a racetrack?
Seeing as you talk like you can do it better and completely disregard the fact that Tilke can't draw what he want, can't decide where the track should be, has to folkow safety precausions, has to take into consideration infrastructure, has to listen to the owner of the track as he surely have some ideas himself.

Come back when you are done, we can compare it to Austin GP track.
Let's see who did the best job..

Roaring Pipes Maniacs | #27StaffPremium Member

Just because Tilke build a lot of tracks doesn't mean automatically all of them are bad. Istanbul Park is a nice example of a track from his hand that totally rocks. It has received some criticism alright but that was mainly because of the poor show up of visitors.

I simply don't understand all the mindless whining about Tilke. "Straight, hairpin, fast, corner, straight" - you can use that term to demean any track, built by Tilke or someone else, but either way it doesn't do them justice. Sepang and Shanghai are both very nice tracks and not at all alike. They both have plenty of unique corners and fun parts in them.

It's funny because I'll give you an example with Bahrain (original layout), China and Malaysia
1. Tight right hander followed by tight left hander followed by right hander and straight. - very similar looking
2. Short straight followed my tight right hander
3. Short straight followed by a Mickey Mouse section
4. After the Mickey Mouse another short straight heading to a hairpin
5. Long straight hairpin start/finish straight
6. All three tracks have similar corners - the 1-2 combination in China is almost the same as T14 in Malaysia and the mirrored T10 in Bahrain.

Ehm, the first corners in Sepang and China may look similar, but they drive completely different. In Sepang the drivers just brake down to second gear and then navigate through the twisty section to accelerate on to the following straight. In Shanghai, it's a long drawn out corner, where the drivers shift down waaay slower. The end of the corner is also different because it's way tighter.

The tight right handers are also different, in Sepang the track is ascending whereas in Shanghai it's descending a little which makes breaking different.

The Mickey Mouse sections look similar but they are also different to drive. The one in Sepang is much more challenging because the driver needs a perfect line and find the exact right spot to turn from left to right, whereas in Shanghai it's mostly down to downforce. The short part after is indeed similar, but in China it's much slower and tighter.

Then, the part coming after the straight is completely different. In China, it's a completely unique banked corner whereas in Malaysia, there is that mean little right hander where the braking point and apex are very difficult to spot. Then, the last corner in Sepang is not at all the same as the first in China. In Malaysia, there is one braking point, which is extremely difficult to find because there is a slight elevation and the driver has to brake inside a corner. In China, the driver brakes ahead of the corner and then just gradually shifts down inside it.

Just because you can describe the track layouts in similar words doesn't mean they are actually alike when it comes to driving.